DUBAI / WAM The Federal Authority for Government Human Resources (FAHR) on Sunday announced a five-hour work day for civil servants during the Holy Month of Ramadan, which is expected to start on April 24. In a circular, FAHR announced that work hours for all ministries, federal entities will start at 09:00 and end at 14:00, with the “exception of ...

ABU DHABI / WAM The UAE Research Programme for Rain Enhancement Science (UAEREP) on Sunday announced that it is set to publish the updated solicitation document on the programme’s future research areas in June. The move comes as part of UAEREP’s preparation for the official opening of its fourth cycle proposal submissions in early 2021. A team of prominent international ...

Sharjah / Emirates Business Despite cinema closures in the UAE and around the world due to the coronavirus pandemic, Sharjah International Film Festival for Children and Youth (SIFF), will continue to bring the magic of cinema to young generations, and this time to their homes. The entity has announced that it will soon be launching an online movie streaming platform ...

Bloomberg Temasek Holdings Pte denied speculation that Chief Executive Officer Ho Ching makes S$100 million ($70 million) a year. “This claim is false,” the Singapore state investor said in a rare statement addressing the pay of the top executive, who’s also Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s wife. “Furthermore, Ho Ching’s annual compensation is neither the highest within Temasek, nor is ...

Bloomberg China’s catering industry was one of the biggest drags on output in the first quarter, leading the world’s second-largest economy into its first contraction in decades as the coronavirus brought business to a near standstill. The accommodation and catering industry fell 35.3% from a year earlier, reversing a 6.2% increase in the previous quarter, the statistics bureau said in ...

Bloomberg Singapore’s exports unexpectedly surged in March from a low base in the previous year, despite disruptions to global supply chains as the coronavirus spread across the world. Non-oil domestic exports, known as NODX, grew 17.6% in March from a year ago, the highest since October 2017, according to data published by Enterprise Singapore. The median estimate in a Bloomberg ...

Bloomberg Japanese mobile carriers NTT Docomo Inc and SoftBank Corp said they will delay their launches of Apple Inc’s new iPhone SE model until May 11 instead of the scheduled April 27 amid the coronavirus outbreak. Japan’s government expanded the area covered by its state of emergency declaration to the whole nation last week and is calling on citizens to ...

Bloomberg Cafes bustled with customers, parks teemed with sunbathers, and the first Apple store to reopen outside China had lines snaking out the door as many South Koreans — almost all wearing masks — emerged from months of self-isolation. The scene in Seoul on a picture-perfect weekend contrasted sharply with other nations where major cities look like ghost towns as ...

Bloomberg India recorded its largest daily spike in coronavirus cases, adding 1,400 new infections to its tally of more than 16,000 amid a nationwide lockdown that’s about to enter its fourth week. The South Asian nation’s cases have been surging over the last week as it gradually scales up its testing capacity. Confirmed infections are up 78% to 16,365 on ...

Bloomberg Mexico’s Pemex has too much gasoline and nowhere to store it, potentially racking up significant ship fees as demand wanes because of the fast-spreading coronavirus. A lack of storage capacity in Mexico is forcing the state-owned oil company to leave its fuel purchases in ships off the coast of Mexico, according to three people familiar with the situation and ...